Moon Petal

Phoenix Wins Out as the Friendliest Place

Although I had a great time in Phoenix, AZ., most of my time was spent at one of the Phoenix luxury hotels recuperating from my Vegas trip. I did see enough of Phoenix though, to form some opinions about the people of Arizona; they are genuinely friendly! I’ve never seen so many smiles and waves of hello, which ruins my theory that Australia would be always one up on the United States. From the continual nice gestures from drivers when crossing the road, to a friendly smile from a waitress at the local bar and grill – Phoenix had been a wonderfully welcoming place.

My first night there, I took a walk around the downtown area, which I scouted for restaurants out upon my arrival, and I stopped in at a bar and grill for dinner, the bar itself was all ‘Yankee’ with wood floors and walls. The guys were wearing truck-driver caps and sipping pints of beer at the bar. By my Australian standards the beer was pathetically weak. The tables were full of families and tourist which was being serviced by an extremely welcoming staff. Being a huge fan of potato skins, ever since my Uncle introduced me to them back home as starters, I ordered them loaded with cheese, bacon and sour cream. I followed up my order with a cheeseburger, an American all-time favorite, and fries. My waitress asked if I’d like mashed potatoes! Who ever heard of mashed potatoes with a cheeseburger? This, though, helped me strike up a decent conversation with her.

What was the best part about the evening, as I was finishing my third Budweiser, was how my waitress fudged the bill so that all my beers became cheaper, because it was time for ‘happy hour’. This made me very ‘happy’.  The bar did have a good assortment of beer to choose from, but I stuck to Budweiser. A little bit of boasting here: Australia is known to be the fattest nation, which Americans find hard to believe, since they are also a fat nation, but us fat Aussies sure can drink the Americans under the table! Americans are really lightweights when it comes to drinking beer.

So, my stop over in Phoenix passed in a blink of an eye, but it has left a very strong impression; the locals are a friendly lot, the desert heat with its zero humidity was very pleasant to experience and that the fact my Aussie accent is so alluring,  I get all kinds of discounts and deals with the ladies.